Terminal having camera module

ABSTRACT

A terminal is provided. The terminal includes a main body, a camera module, and a driving structure disposed in the main body. A receiving chamber configured to receive the camera module is defined in the main body. The driving structure is connected to the camera module to drive the camera module to move from the inside of the receiving chamber to the outside of the main body or drive the camera module to move from the outside of the main body into the inside of the receiving chamber.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/824,490, filed on Nov. 28, 2017, which claims priority to ChinesePatent Application No. 201710132546.6, filed on Mar. 7, 2017, thecontents of both of which are hereby incorporated by references in theirentireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to display technology, and moreparticularly, to a terminal having a camera module.

BACKGROUND

A terminal such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a notebookcomputer, and a personal digital assistant (PDA) includes a displayscreen displaying an image or video.

Such a terminal may include have various functions such as aphotographing function, a user identifying function, and so on. Withdevelopment of intelligent communication technology, a large displayscreen displaying the image or video has become more and more popular.

Currently, the terminal typically has an image capturing function, andtherefore, should have a non-display area where a camera-mounting holeis defined so as to mount a camera module. However, since the terminalhas a limited size, the display screen is reduced in size when thenon-display area is provided so as to define the camera-mounting holewhere the camera module is to be mounted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly describe technical solutions according toimplementations of the present disclosure, accompanying drawings usedfor describing the implementations will be briefly introducedhereinafter. Apparently, the accompanying drawings described belowmerely show some implementations of the present disclosure, and personsskilled in the art may also derive other drawings from theseaccompanying drawings without creative efforts.

For a full understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, adescription is provided below with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which identical or similar reference numerals representidentical or similar parts.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a terminal according to animplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic exploded view of a terminal according to animplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a terminal according to an implementation ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a first structure of camera moduleaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an engagement relationship between acamera module and a main body according to an implementation of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of another engagement relationship betweenthe camera module and the main body according to anther implementationof the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a second structure of a camera moduleaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a third structure of a camera moduleaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a schematic exploded view of the camera module as illustratedin FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the terminaltaken along line P1-P1 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of polarity change of an electromagnetaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a driving structure according to animplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of a fourth structure of a camera moduleaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is another schematic partial cross-sectional view of theterminal taken along line P1-P1 line in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A clear, complete description for the technical solutions ofimplementations of the present disclosure is provided hereinafter, inconjunction with the drawings in the implementations of the presentdisclosure. Apparently, the implementations to be described below are apart, rather than all of implementations of the present disclosure.Other implementations obtained by persons skilled in the art from theimplementations given herein without creative efforts should all fallwithin the protection scope of the present disclosure.

The terms “first”, “second”, “third”, and the like in the description,claims, and drawings are used to distinguish between different objects,rather than used to indicate a specified order or sequence. It should beunderstood that the objects described in this way may be exchanged whenappropriate. Furthermore, the terms “include” and “comprise” as well asany variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion.

In the present disclosure, FIG. 1 to FIG. 14 discussed hereinafter andvarious implementations for describing principles of the presentdisclosure are merely for illustration are not construed as a limitationon the scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood bypersons skilled in the art that the principles of the present disclosuremay be implemented in any suitably arranged device. A detaileddescription is provided for exemplary implementations, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In addition, terminalsaccording to the exemplary implementations will be described in detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings in which identical orsimilar reference numerals represent identical or similar parts.

Although the terms “first”, “second”, etc. may be used to describevarious elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms.These terms are only used to distinguish between different elements. Forexample, a first element could be termed a second element, andsimilarly, a second element could be termed a first element, withoutdeparting from the scope of exemplary implementations. The term “and/or”as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items.

The terminology used herein is for describing particular embodimentsonly and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. Thesingular form is intended to include the plural form as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. It should be understood that theterms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes” and/or “including”, whenused herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, or groups thereof disclosed in thepresent disclosure, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, or groups thereof. In the drawings, identical or similarreference numerals represent identical or similar parts.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a terminal 100 according to animplementation of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a schematic explodedview of the terminal 100 according to an implementation of the presentdisclosure. The terminal 100 as illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is asmart phone, however, the terminal 100 may also be any terminalincluding a display screen such as a tablet computer, a notebookcomputer, and a PDA.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the terminal 100 may include a mainbody 10, a driving structure 20, and a camera module 30.

The driving structure 20 is disposed in the main body 10, and areceiving chamber 40 configured to receive the camera module 30 isdefined in the main body 10. The driving structure 20 is connected tothe camera module 30 to drive the camera module 30 to move from theinside of the receiving chamber 40 to the outside of the main body 10 ordrive the camera module 30 to move from the outside of the main body 10into the inside of the receiving chamber 40.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the main body 10 may include a cover plate 11,a display screen 12, a printed circuit board 13, and a housing 14. Inaddition, the terminal 100 may further include a power supply 15. Thedisplay screen 12 may be electrically connected to the printed circuitboard 13 via a flexible printed circuit.

The main body 10 may further include functional components such as atleast one sensor, at least one fingerprint module, and the like. Itshould be understood by persons skilled in the art that the structure ofthe main body 10 as illustrated in FIG. 2 is not intended to be alimitation on the main body of the present disclosure, and the main body10 may include more or fewer components, or combinations thereof, ordifferent arrangements thereof.

In some implementations, the cover plate 11 may be disposed on the frontof the display screen 12. In the present disclosure, “front” refers to adirection in which a surface of the display screen 12 displayinginformation faces, while “back” refers to a direction to opposite to“front”.

The cover plate 11 may have an exposing area 111 that exposes theinformation displayed by the display screen 12 and a non-exposing area112 that prevents visibility from the outside of the terminal 100. Thenon-exposing area 112 may include a lightproof layer, e.g., a blackshading layer, such that the inside of the terminal 100 is invisible. Insome implementations, the lightproof layer is an ink layer.

The display screen 12 is configured to display the information such asimages, videos or texts. The display screen 12 may include a frontsurface displaying the information and a back surface located oppositeto the front surface.

In some implementations, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the display screen 12may include a display area 121 configured to display the information anda non-display area 122 not displaying the information. The display area121 may serve as a main display area of the display screen 12 and isconfigured to display most of the information. The non-display area 122may be disposed on the periphery of the display area 121, and may beconfigured to dispose an integrated circuit (IC) configured to controlthe display of the information on the display screen 12. Thenon-exposing area 112 of the cover plate 11 may be disposed on the frontof the non-display area 122 of the display screen 12 and prevent thenon-display area 122 of the display screen 12 from being seen from theoutside.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the terminal 100. In some implementations, asillustrated in FIG. 3, the display screen 12 may be a borderless displayscreen. That is to say, the display screen 12 may merely include thedisplay area 121, and not include the non-display area 122, such that alarger display screen is achieved.

The housing 14 may consist of a single component or a plurality ofcombinable components. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the housing 14 mayinclude a circumferential wall 141 and a back plate 142 connected to thecircumferential wall 141. The housing 14 may be made of at least one ofplastic material, ceramic material and metal material. In someimplementations, the cover plate may be connected to the circumferentialwall 141 of the housing 14 and opposite the back plate 142 of thehousing 14, so as to form an enclosed space.

In some implementations, the main body 10 includes a front plate and acircumferential wall connected to the front plate, and the receivingchamber 40 is disposed next to the circumferential wall. Actually, thecover plate 11 may function as the front plate of the main body 10, andthe circumferential wall 141 of the housing 14 may function as thecircumferential wall of the main body 10. As illustrated in FIG. 2, thereceiving chamber 40 has an aperture allowing the camera module 30 tomove into or out of the receiving chamber 40. The aperture is defined inthe circumferential wall 141 of the housing 14.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a first structure of the camera module 30according to an implementation of the present disclosure. As illustratedin FIG. 4, the camera module 30 includes a mounting base 31 connected tothe driving structure 20 and a first camera 32 disposed on the mountingbase 31. When the driving structure 20 drives the camera module 30 tomove to the outside of the main body 10, the first camera 32 faces aplane where the cover plate 11 is located.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the camera module 30 includes a side wall 301which is located in the aperture of the receiving chamber 40 to preventdust, etc., from entering the receiving chamber 40 when the cameramodule 30 is received in the receiving chamber 40. The side wall 301 hasan inner surface and an outer surface. In at least one implementation,the mounting base 31 is located in the center or on the edge of theinner surface of the side wall 301. In at least one implementation, themounting base 31 is plate-shaped, and the side wall 301 is perpendicularto the mounting base 31.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an engagement relationship between acamera module and a main body according to an implementation of thepresent disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the aperture of thereceiving chamber 40 is defined in the right portion of thecircumferential wall 141 of the housing 14. The aperture of thereceiving chamber 40 has a size matched to that of the camera module 30,and hence, when the camera module 30 is received in the receivingchamber 40, the outer surface of the side wall 301 of the camera module30 is flush with an outer surface of the circumferential wall 141 of thehousing 14, such that the outer surface of the side wall 301 and theouter surface of the circumferential wall 141 are located in the sameplane. In at least one implementation, when the camera module 30 isreceived in the receiving chamber 40, the periphery of the side wall 301may coincide with the periphery of the aperture of the receiving chamber40 such that the outer surface of the side wall 301 is apparentlyintegrated with the outer surface of the circumferential wall 141.

In some implementations, the aperture of the receiving chamber 40 mayalso be defined in the top portion, the bottom portion, or the leftportion of the circumferential wall 141 of the main body 10. FIG. 6 is aschematic view of another engagement relationship between the cameramodule and the main body according to anther implementation of thepresent disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the aperture of thereceiving chamber 40 is defined in the top portion of thecircumferential wall 141 of the main body 10, and the camera module 30is movably received in the receiving chamber 40. When the camera module30 is moved to the outside of the main body 10, the camera 32 faces theplane where the cover plate 11 is located.

In some implementations, the main body 10 further includes a back plateopposite its front plate and connected to its circumferential wall.Actually, the back plate 142 of the housing 14 may function as the backplate of the main body 10.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a second structure of a camera moduleaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure. As illustratedin FIG. 7, the camera module 30 further includes a second camera 33disposed on the mounting base 31. When the driving structure 20 drivesthe camera module 30 to move to the outside of the main body 10, thefirst camera 32 faces the plane where the cover plate 11 is located, andthe second camera 32 faces a plane where the back plate 142 of thehousing 14 is located.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a third structure of a camera moduleaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure, and FIG. 9 isa schematic exploded view of the camera module as illustrated in FIG. 8.In some implementations, as illustrated in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, themounting base 31 comprises a rotatable element 34. The first camera 32is disposed on the rotatable element 34 such that the first camera 32can be rotated to face the plane where the cover plate 11 is located orthe plane where the back plate 142 of the housing 14 is located.

In some implementations, the mounting base 31 has a first end surface311, a second end surface 312, and a groove 313 extending from the firstend surface 311 to the second end surface 312. The first end surface 311faces the plane where the cover plate 11 is located, while the secondend surface 312 faces the plane where the back plate 142 of the housing14 is located. The rotatable element 34 is located in the groove 313.

FIG. 10 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the terminal 100taken along line P1-P1 in FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the drivingstructure 20 is a pair of magnets including a first magnet 21 and asecond magnet 22. The first magnet 21 has a first magnetic pole 211, andthe second magnet 22 has a second magnetic pole 221. The first magnet 21is connected to the camera module 30, and the first magnetic pole 211 ofthe first magnet 21 is opposite the second magnetic pole 221 of thesecond magnet 22. Since identical polarities repel while oppositepolarities attract, the camera module 30 is driven to move from theinside of the receiving chamber 40 to the outside of the terminal 100when the first magnetic pole 211 and the second magnetic pole 221 haveidentical polarities, or the camera module 30 is driven to move from theoutside of the terminal 100 into the inside of the receiving chamber 40when the first magnetic pole 21 and the second magnetic pole 22 haveopposite polarities.

In some implementations, the first magnet 21 may be a permanent magnetand the second magnet 22 may be an electromagnet having a coil. The coilof the electromagnet may be energized by a driving circuit on theprinted circuit board 13, and the direction of the current in the coilof the electromagnet can be changed by changing level parameters of thedriving circuit. When the direction of the current is changed, thepolarity of the magnetic pole of the electromagnet is also changedaccordingly.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of polarity change of the second magnet 22according to an implementation of the present disclosure. As illustratedin FIG. 11, when a direction of a current in the coil is downward inFIG. 11, the second magnetic pole 221 is an N pole. Consequently, whenthe first magnetic pole 211 is an S pole, the first camera 32 is insidethe main body 10. On the other hand, when the direction of the currentin the coil is upward in FIG. 11, the second magnetic pole 221 ischanged into the S pole. Consequently, when the first magnetic pole 211is the S pole, the camera module 30 is driven to move outside the mainbody 10 such that the first camera 32 is moved beyond thecircumferential wall 141 of the housing 14 and is exposed outside thereceiving chamber 40.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the driving structure 20 according toanother implementation of the present disclosure. FIG. 13 is a schematicview of a fourth structure of the camera module 30 according to anotherimplementation of the present disclosure. FIG. 14 is another schematicpartial cross-sectional view of the terminal 100 taken along line P1-P1line in FIG. 1. In some implementations, as illustrated in FIG. 14, thedriving structure 20 may be a motor having a rotatable shaft 23 on whichan external thread 231 is arranged. As illustrated in FIG. 14, thereceiving chamber 40 is provided with a restricting element 41configured to restrict the camera module 30 to moving in the orientationof the aperture of the receiving chamber 40. As illustrated in FIG. 13,the camera module 30 has a cavity 311 provided with an internal thread312. The rotatable shaft 23 is screwed into the cavity 311 by means ofthe engagement of the external thread 231 and the internal thread 312.As illustrated in FIG. 14, when the rotatable shaft 23 is rotated, thecamera module 30 is driven to move from the inside of the receivingchamber 40 to the outside of the main body 10 or is driven to move fromthe outside of the main body 10 into the inside of the receiving chamber40.

In at least one implementation, the rotatable shaft 23 may be acylinder, and accordingly, the cavity 311 may be a cylindrical spacecapable of receiving the cylinder.

According to the present disclosure, the camera module is received inthe receiving chamber inside the terminal such that the camera module isinvisible from the outside of the terminal, and the camera module can bedriven to move to the outside of the terminal for image-capturing whenit is to be used, such that the non-display area required for thecamera-mounting hole is unnecessary in the display screen of theterminal, thereby effectively enlarging the display area of the displayscreen and achieving a large-sized display screen.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the present disclosure,reference has been made to the exemplary implementations illustrated inthe drawings, and these implementations are described with specificlanguage. However, this specific language is not intended to limit thescope of the present disclosure, and the exemplary implementationsshould be construed as encompassing all exemplary implementations thatwould normally occur to persons skilled in the art.

The words “mechanism”, “element”, “mode”, “configuration” are used in ageneral sense, and are not limited to mechanical or physicalimplementations, but may include software programs combined withprocessors, etc.

The specific implementations illustrated and described herein areexemplary implementations of the present disclosure and are not intendedto limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. For the sake ofbrevity, conventional electronics, control systems, software developmentand other functional aspects of the systems (and components of theindividual operating components of the systems) may not be described indetail. Furthermore, the connecting lines, or connectors illustrated inthe various drawings are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical or logical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships, physical connections or logical connectionsmay be present in a practical device. Moreover, no item or component isessential to the practice of the present disclosure unless the elementis specifically described as “essential” or “critical”. Technically, thewords “include”, “comprise”, etc., used herein have open meaningsrespectively.

The use of the terms “a”, “an”, “the”, and the like in the context ofdescribing the present disclosure (especially in the appended claims)are to be construed as covering both the singular and the plural.Furthermore, recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intendedto serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to eachseparate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicatedherein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specificationas if it were individually recited herein. In addition, the steps of allmethods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unlessotherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.The change in the present disclosure is not limited to the describedorder. The use of any and all implementations or exemplary language(e.g., “such as” or “for example”) provided herein, is intended merelyto better illuminate the present disclosure and does not pose alimitation on the scope of the present disclosure unless otherwiseclaimed. Numerous modifications and adaptations will be readily apparentto persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the exemplary implementations describedtherein should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects in eachexemplary implementation should typically be considered as available forother similar features or aspects in other exemplary implementations.Although the present disclosure has been described with reference toexemplary implementations, various changes and modifications can be madeby persons skilled in the art. The present disclosure is intended tocover these changes and modifications falling within the scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A terminal comprising a main body, a cameramodule, and a driving structure disposed in the main body, wherein areceiving chamber configured to receive the camera module is defined inthe main body, wherein, the main body comprises a display screen with adisplay area, the receiving chamber is defined in the main body andposition of the receiving chamber corresponds to one portion of thedisplay area; and the driving structure is connected to the cameramodule to drive the camera module to move from the inside of thereceiving chamber to the outside of the main body or drive the cameramodule to move from the outside of the main body into the inside of thereceiving chamber; wherein the display screen merely comprises thedisplay area configured to display information; wherein the main bodycomprises a front plate, a back plate opposite the front plate, and acircumferential wall connected to the front plate and the back plate;the receiving chamber has an aperture allowing the camera module to moveinto or out of the receiving chamber; the aperture is defined in thecircumferential wall; the camera module comprises a mounting baseconnected to the driving structure and a first camera disposed on themounting base; the mounting base comprises a rotatable element; thefirst camera is disposed on the rotatable element such that the firstcamera can be rotated to face a plane where the front plate is locatedor a plane where the back plate is located; the mounting base comprisesa first end surface facing the plane where the front plate is located, asecond end surface facing the plane where the back plate is located, anda groove extending through the first end surface and the second endsurface; and the rotatable element is located in the groove.
 2. Theterminal of claim 1, wherein when the driving structure drives thecamera module to move to the outside of the main body, the first camerafaces a plane where the front plate is located.
 3. The terminal of claim1, wherein the camera module further comprises a second camera disposedon the mounting base.
 4. The terminal of claim 3, wherein when thedriving structure drives the camera module to move to the outside of themain body, the first camera faces a plane where the front plate islocated, and the second camera faces a plane where the back plate islocated.
 5. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the camera module comprisesa side wall which is located in the aperture when the camera module isreceived in the receiving chamber.
 6. The terminal of claim 5, whereinthe side wall has an inner surface and an outer surface; and when thecamera module is received in the receiving chamber, the outer surface ofthe side wall is flush with an outer surface of the circumferentialwall.
 7. The terminal of claim 5, wherein a periphery of the side wallcoincides with a periphery of the aperture.
 8. The terminal of claim 1,wherein the camera module further comprises a side wall having an innersurface and an outer surface, the side wall is located in the aperturewhen the camera module is received in the receiving chamber; and themounting base is located in the center or on the edge of the innersurface of the side wall.
 9. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the cameramodule further comprises a side wall having an inner surface and anouter surface, the side wall is located in the aperture when the cameramodule is received in the receiving chamber; and the mounting base isplate-shaped, and the side wall is perpendicular to the mounting base.10. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the driving structure is a pair ofmagnets comprising a first magnet having a first magnetic pole and asecond magnet having a second magnetic pole; the first magnet isconnected to the camera module, and the first magnetic pole of the firstmagnet is opposite the second magnetic pole of the second magnet; thecamera module is driven to move from the inside of the receiving chamberto the outside of the terminal when the first magnetic pole and thesecond magnetic pole have identical polarities; or the camera module isdriven to move from the outside of the terminal into the inside of thereceiving chamber when the first magnetic pole and the second magneticpole have opposite polarities.
 11. The terminal of claim 10, wherein thefirst magnet is a permanent magnet and the second magnet is anelectromagnet.
 12. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the drivingstructure is a motor having a rotatable shaft on which an externalthread is arranged; the camera module has a cavity provided with aninternal thread; the rotatable shaft is screwed into the cavity by meansof the engagement of the external thread and the internal thread; andwhen the rotatable shaft is rotated, the camera module is driven to movefrom the inside of the receiving chamber to the outside of the main bodyor is driven to move from the outside of the main body into the insideof the receiving chamber.
 13. The terminal of claim 12, wherein therotatable shaft is a cylinder, and the cavity is a cylindrical spacecapable of receiving the cylinder.
 14. The terminal of claim 1, whereinthe receiving chamber is provided with a restricting element configuredto restrict the camera module to moving in an orientation of theaperture of the receiving chamber.